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Rimini Street ordered to pay Oracle's $46m legal bill

Ruling lifts Rimini's total owed to Oracle to $124.3m, although it intends to appeal

A Nevada court has ruled that Rimini Street must pay Oracle's $46m legal bill from the long-running feud between the pair.

Last year Rimini Street, an independent support provider of Oracle products, was ordered by a jury to pay $50m in compensation to Oracle, including $14m ordered against Rimini Street CEO Seth Ravin personally.

A court has now ruled that Rimini Street must cover the legal costs and also granted Oracle's motion for prejudgement interest, from which the vendor expects to be awarded at least $24m.

The judge also granted a permanent injunction against continued copyright infringement from Rimini Street.

In total Rimini Street has been ordered to pay Oracle $124.3m.

Oracle's general counsel Dorian Daley said: "The court's order sends a powerful message to protect innovators.

"This order helps to protect Oracle's investment in its software to benefit its customers and confirms that Rimini's infringement was unrepentant.

"Rimini and Ravin continue to falsely assert that their conduct is permissible. Their customers and prospective customers are on notice of their grave misconduct and the consequences of that misconduct."

In a statement Rimini Street said it accepts the award of a one-off license payment to Oracle of $35.6m, but intends to appeal the remaining $88.7m of the total $124.3m.

It added that in 2014 it ceased the actions related to the injunction, and so it does not expect the injunction to impact its future business. Rimini Street however is expected to appeal the injunction and attempt to have the total damages reduced by 70 per cent.

Rimini Street's general counsel Daniel Winslow said: "Rimini Street will take responsibility for its past practices and pay the one-time fair market license fee of $35.6m to Oracle for innocently infringing certain of its software copyrights.

"When one considers Oracle's other litigation losses, such as the $100m in value Oracle recently agreed to pay the State of Oregon for Oracle's alleged misconduct, the nearly $250m Oracle agreed to pay the U.S. Department of Justice for Oracle's alleged misconduct, the $3.1bn Oracle has recently been ordered by the Court to pay HP Enterprise as damages for Oracle's misconduct, and its failed $8.8bn claim against Google, Rimini Street is confident that the final judgment in this case is yet another Oracle overreach and will not stand on appeal."

Rimini Street also stressed that the jury had found it to have "innocently" infringed Oracle's software copyrights.